B’tselem gives up on the IDF

What We’re Reading

Occupation/Human rights

Leading Israeli rights group to stop cooperating with the IDF,

The Israeli military justice system acts only to ‘cover up unlawful acts and protect perpetrators,’ B’Tselem says, citing 25 years of experience working with the military. Palestinian rights expert welcomes the move.

The Occupation's Fig Leaf: Israel's Military Law Enforcement System as a Whitewash Mechanism,

The military law enforcement system is supposed to handle complaints filed against soldiers for harm caused to Palestinians in the West Bank, including cases of violence and gunfire that resulted in injury or death. Such harm is endemic to the occupation, which has been in place for nearly fifty years.

Israeli Local Government Resumes Funding Settler Group That Released anti-Semitic Video,

Shomron Regional Council to transfer $195,000 to settler organization that published video depicting Europeans as Nazis and leftists as hook-nosed Jews who collaborate with them.

Israeli politics

Netanyahu's Coalition Games,

Like the prospective groom of a thrice-married woman whose former husbands all died under strange circumstances, Herzog truly believed that a union with Netanyahu would be different this time. For such misplaced faith, Herzog will likely pay with his political career,” writes Neri Zilber.

Temple Mount Firebrand Yehuda Glick Finds Himself in Knesset After Israel Shakeup,

Glick’s arrival in the halls of the Knesset reflects the growing reception of his push for Jews’ right to visit and worship on the Temple Mount. “He’s part of a movement that deals in pyromania,” said Daniel Seidmann, an attorney and expert in Jerusalem’s geopolitics. “There are few threats that create a clear and present danger to the most vital interests of Israel more than a radical change on the Temple Mount.”

Israel's new defense minister could clash with his soldiers,

Israel’s incoming defense minister once called for bombing Egypt, suggested just weeks ago that Israel kill Hamas’ leader in the Gaza Strip and opposed the prosecution of a soldier accused of killing a wounded Palestinian. These are just a few of the positions that could put former bar bouncer Avigdor Lieberman at odds with a military he is now to command.

US-Israel relations

Pro-Israel heavyweights press hard for 2 states,

In a rare and sharp split with Israeli government policy, a group of Jewish community leaders wants to get a proposal for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the next president’s desk.

Less Than Half of American Millennials Sympathize With Israel Over Palestinians: Pew Study,

Americans overwhelmingly continue to side with Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a Pew foreign policy survey shows — except for Millennials are more likely to sympathize with Palestinians. The survey, published earlier this month showed that a decade ago, Americans across the generations held similar views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Not any more.

Palestinian politics

Time to end the ‘hasbara’: Palestinian media and the search for a common story,

“For many years, Palestinian media has been on the defensive, unable to articulate a coherent message, torn between factions and desperately trying to fend off the Israeli media campaign,” writes Ramzy Baroud.